When I learned of Ambrosio Fornet’s goodbye on April 5, a sentence of his came to mind, one I learned many years ago, when reading those unforgettable stories published by the National Culture Council, essential for us in our early
years.
"It is necessary to be forwarned from the beginning: Kafka wanted to prevent us from knowing his work."
These were his first words in the prologue to Relatos del checo genial published in Cuba in 1964. It was signed by Ambrosio Fornet, who was also responsible for the selection of texts that would oblige readers of the classics to return to these pages again and again, recognizing their creative force on the first encounter.
The invitation made an impact, once read it could not be refused, and those lines - written as if their author knew the person he was talking about very well - were an absolute joy that prepared the reader for the banquet they would feast upon reading the work of Franz Kafka in the following pages. Ambrosio Fornet was already a writer when the course of life led him to undertake other paths, also related to books, although not precisely to develop his fictional work.
In 1958, he had published a book of short stories and had entered the field of journalism. He would leave his creative and crucial mark in every task he was assigned after the revolutionary triumph in 1959, and with it a work that would make him one of the most prominent intellectuals of his time.
He worked with pedagogue Herminio Almendros in the Ministry of Education, where universal works were adapted for Cuban for children
and youth. Later, with Edmundo Desnoes, he directed the Art and Literature section of the National Publishing House, headed by Alejo Carpentier.
Thanks to the efforts of the National Printing House, he said in an interview with Granma, the essential novels of European universal literature were published, first off all, Don Quixote, followed by many classics of poetry and theater, as well.
Nonetheless, a great deal of 20th century literature was missing, and Fornet took on the task of updating the editorial plan. "In selecting the works to begin this plan, wept James Joyce, Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust in the first three spots.
In other words, the avant-garde of the avant-garde. The classics of the 20th century. In the Cocuyo (Firefly) collection, and in several years that have been called the Golden Age of Publishing in Cuba, we brought to light all that literature."He would then write a broad, insightful essay to accompany the work.
El libro en Cuba, for example, is a title essential to understanding the publishing world of the 18th and 19th centuries and in its last edition it also the first half of the 20th.
Fornet's friends quoted him their writings. "They didn't do it because I was a genius, but because I spoke to them clearly. They got used to showing their work to me and I got used to reading it. They even said: If Ambrosio hasn't read this, they won’t publish it. I ended up getting a taste for criticizing and not being criticized and I became what they called this generation's critic.”
A full member of the Cuban Academy of Language, Fornet was also a man of cinema. In addition to having led an editorial project of several volumes on film dramaturgy, and created documentaries, he wrote the screenplay for Retrato de Teresa.
"Pastor (Vega) and I would go to the cinema, to see the audience reaction; it was always the same story. Couples would be arguing. I don't think there were ever more divorces in Cuba," he once joked.
A revolutionary critic, who called things by name, without hesitation; an essential defender of our culture; an intellectual aware of what the Cuban Revolution meant for his country, he was recognized with National Prizes for both Publishing and Literature. The Havana International Fair of 2012 was dedicated to him and his work.
For those who saw in the works that were published in Cuba, his creative work, there can be no greater prize than that of contributing tithe consolidation of Cuban readers. With this, Ambrosio Fornet has won a place in eternity.
